Chapter 38: Myriad Miles Cloud Wander Fragrance
Yun Jian Fang.
The oldest incense shop in Qingxu County Town.
A person came to buy incense.
Before Hong Yuan even stepped into the shop, he called out loudly from the entrance: “Shopkeeper Yun, bring out the best incense formula in your shop, the one called ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles’, I want as much as you have.”
After leaving Stone Slab Alley, Hong Yuan had originally planned to leave Qingxu County Town, but he suddenly remembered the furnace of incense he had smelled in Biwu Immortal Realm, which had cleared his spirit at the time.
Earlier, Hong Yuan had realized that relying solely on his own training, the improvement speed of his root bone and comprehension would only get slower and slower, so he had devised plans for technology and ruthless methods.
The facts proved that ruthless methods really worked; killing Yan Laosan at the wharf as well as Huang Guiling, Huang Shaotang, and the others had improved his root bone and comprehension by a trace and a wisp respectively.
Ruthless methods worked, what about technology?
If he lit a furnace of good incense while meditating in concentration, would it also help with comprehension growth?
He didn’t know the name of the incense formula from Biwu Immortal Realm, but Yun Jian Fang had a high-grade incense formula called ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles’; though it couldn’t compare to the rich and clear fragrance of the former, it was still worth a try.
The two shop assistants in the incense shop who were doing cleaning and sweeping heard the summons and hurried forward to greet him; Shopkeeper Yun behind the counter looked up and glanced at Hong Yuan who had entered, wiped the corner of his eye, and his expression was hesitant.
Back when Hong Yuan was still an academy student, his family was fairly well-off financially and he often came to buy incense; after a few visits, he had become acquainted with this old shopkeeper.
But Shopkeeper Yun was advanced in age, with hair already white, and his eyesight had long been poor; plus Hong Yuan’s current physique and temperament had greatly changed, so although he vaguely felt a sense of familiarity, he didn’t dare to recognize him.
Suppressing a bit of doubt, Shopkeeper Yun put on a smile: “Honored guest, greetings; my small shop does have the ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles’ incense formula, but this incense is quite costly to produce; I wonder, honored guest…”
Hong Yuan took out a hundred-tael silver note from Baoji Zhenji and slapped it on the counter with a ‘pa’.
Shopkeeper Yun squinted his old eyes and glanced at it, not even needing to touch it with his hand; he just waved his hand and smiled: “Honored guest, don’t joke with this little old man; the denomination of this silver note is too large, my small shop can’t change it; please exchange it for cash silver and come back.”
“Shopkeeper Yun, are you afraid I’m using a fake silver note to fool you?”
Hong Yuan chuckled lightly.
Shopkeeper Yun shook his head repeatedly: “What are you saying, honored guest; this little old man wouldn’t dare think that.”
“Alright!” Hong Yuan stopped teasing the little old man, pocketed the silver note, and took out several ingots of cash silver he had prepared in advance from his sleeve, lining them up on the counter; there were seven ingots in total.
“Freshly exchanged silver, ten taels per ingot; is that enough?”
“Enough, enough, more than enough; please wait a moment, guest; this little old man will go get the incense box right now.” Shopkeeper Yun said repeatedly, then turned around, lifted the small door curtain on the side of the counter, and went into the back room.
After a moment, Shopkeeper Yun carefully carried out a rosewood box about the size of a palm, placed it preciously on the counter, and smiled: “This thing weighs six taels; four taels of ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles incense’, nine taels of silver per tael; the wooden box weighs two taels, no charge; total thirty-six taels.”
Shopkeeper Yun smiled broadly and gestured to Hong Yuan: “Honored guest, would you like to inspect it and weigh it?”
Hong Yuan raised an eyebrow.
One tael of incense, nine taels of silver!
This stuff was outrageously expensive, practically equivalent to gold.
It was only because he had now received funding from a kind-hearted person and become suddenly rich that he could buy it without batting an eye.
No wonder back then when he had gotten familiar with this old shopkeeper and begged persistently, the other party had only been willing to light a pinch of incense powder the size of a fingernail, and still with a pained expression.
Because what was being burned was truly silver.
Sighing slightly, Hong Yuan smiled: “No need; I trust Yun Jian Fang’s credibility. But a big shop like Yun Jian Fang only has this one box of incense?”
“Honored guest may not know, not all incense gets better with longer storage; this ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles’ is extremely precious; once made, if storage is even slightly improper, the fragrance will dissipate; my small shop only dares to make one box at a time.”
Shopkeeper Yun said with a squinting smile.
“I see.” Hong Yuan chuckled, not believing the old man’s nonsense at all; he estimated there was at least one or two more boxes in stock.
After all, there were always great families in Qingxu County who would stock up for emergencies.
Too lazy to argue with him, Hong Yuan pocketed three ingots of silver, grabbed the rosewood box in his hand, and turned to leave.
“Honored guest, wait; still need to give you four taels of silver change…” Shopkeeper Yun hurriedly called out.
“No need for change.” Hong Yuan didn’t look back, waved his hand backward, and strode away.
The old shopkeeper opened his mouth, watching Hong Yuan’s figure gradually recede; he felt it was somewhat familiar, muttered to himself, couldn’t recall after a while, then put it out of mind; full of joy, he collected the four ingots of silver and hummed a little tune.
After shopping in the city, Hong Yuan finally carried a large package and bought a black-canopied boat from the fishing guild; by the time he was done, it was already afternoon.
The daylight gradually dimmed, the sun hidden in the clouds.
Autumn wind blew over Jade Belt River, withered yellow leaves by the riverside drifting with the wind.
The black-canopied boat rocked on the river surface, drifting with the waves, empty with no one on board; after a while.
Suddenly a wave surged up, a head emerged from the water, fast as a swimming fish, catching up to the drifting black-canopied boat; with one hand he climbed aboard.
Hong Yuan wore only shorts, bare-chested, standing at the boat’s gunwale; the shivering cold wind blew over his whole body, yet he revealed a smile.
This time going into the water, besides observing the underwater whirlpools and surges to comprehend ‘spiral force’ from them, was also because he wanted to test his own underwater swimming limits.
Compared to other martial artists, Hong Yuan’s most significant advantage was his ability to continuously improve his root bone and comprehension.
After his comprehension increased by six wisps, that mysterious sense of danger became even sharper.
Although far from reaching the realm of foreknowing with utmost sincerity, sensing and avoiding danger without seeing or hearing it, if someone wanted to ambush him or sneak attack from behind with bow or crossbow dark arrows, he might detect it just before stepping into the trap, or sense it when the enemy aimed a bolt at him.
Five traces and five wisps was a threshold.
Hong Yuan estimated that if his root bone improved by one more trace, his physical fitness would likely leap forward comprehensively.
Even now, Hong Yuan’s all-around improved physical fitness had already shown its advantages.
Not to mention his firm grasp on martial arts, picking them up extremely quickly and cultivating them easily; just the previous underwater submersion, his qi pulse endurance was already quite exaggerated.
While resisting the undercurrents in the water, Hong Yuan had swum underwater for at least half an hour.
The previous life’s breath holding record was about half an hour, but that was static breath holding; for underwater swimming, only a few minutes.
In this world, entering force martial artists could naturally hold breath longer underwater, but not by much.
Because although their muscles and bones were strong and they could control their own qi and blood, relative to the human body as a whole, it was only a very small part that had ‘evolved’.
If human body attributes were really broken down and refined, there might be hundreds or thousands of kinds; entering force martial artists at most evolved a few or dozens of attributes.
But for Hong Yuan, one increase in root bone meant synchronous advancement of all attributes.
Blowing dry the water droplets on his body, Hong Yuan put on his robe, comfortably lay in the boat cabin, crossed his legs, watched the clouds change above the firmament, and with one hand reached into the large package to take out an oiled paper package.
Another touch, and a jug of wine was in his hand.
Inside the oiled paper package was a roast chicken, which Hong Yuan had packed from a county town restaurant; now it was completely cold, but he didn’t mind, tore off a chicken leg and took a bite.
The texture was a bit tough and cold, but having meat and wine at this moment was already extremely comfortable enjoyment.
One bite of meat, one gulp of wine; Hong Yuan let his thoughts wander aimlessly: if right now he were surrounded by enemies in dozens of light boats, each boat full of archers, and he jumped straight into the river, this group staring wide-eyed, drawing bows and nocking arrows, patrolling the river surface waiting for him to surface and then a thousand arrows fired together!
But he would have already swum breath-held to over ten li away, and even after catching his breath could swim another ten li!
‘Water escape, this is my escape route!’
That County Lieutenant Zhang should have figured out Hong Yuan’s identity by now; he hadn’t hidden when buying the boat, so if there was intent for revenge, he should be mobilizing hundreds of men to encircle up and down the river by now.
Thinking of this, Hong Yuan really couldn’t worry.
After eating and drinking his fill, Hong Yuan did a simple wash, took out the small wooden box, opened it to reveal incense cakes stamped into cloud shapes by molds, about nearly twenty of them.
Strands of faint clear fragrance instantly wafted out, lingering in the boat cabin.
Hong Yuan took one in hand, sniffed it close; the fragrance was even richer, with a mysterious cool clarity.
He gently weighed it; light as nothing; he couldn’t help sighing: just this one thing cost a little over two taels of silver; not to mention ordinary people, even general great families couldn’t afford it.
With several thousand taels in silver notes in his pocket, he had originally thought it a huge sum, but now it seemed it might not be enough.
Fortunately, there were many kind-hearted people in this world; if silver ran short for expenses, he could always go ask for funding; anyway, Hong Yuan never planned to make wealth through business.
Eight hundred years of Great Yin Dynasty, what business hadn’t been taken by noble clans, nobles, scholars, and great families? Where was there room for outsiders to insert?
After lighting this one ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles’ in the small incense burner, a rich fragrance spread; Hong Yuan immediately felt a refreshing sensation surge forth, swaying lightly like white clouds or clear breeze!
His eyebrows raised; it couldn’t compare to the spirit-boosting effect of the incense formula from Biwu Immortal Realm, but it indeed had some merit.
Without delay, he gathered his spirit and focused on meditating.
In a daze.
Hong Yuan’s mind settled peacefully, using meditation method to observe and guide the flow of qi and blood in his body.
In this life’s martial arts, controlling qi and blood was key; even after entering force, meditation and guidance couldn’t be abandoned, must be practiced constantly.
Otherwise, though not quite “no practice for a day, empty for ten days; no practice for a hundred days, empty for a season,” in true life-and-death combat, it would always fall short.
And even a tiny deviation was enough to be fatal!
Time passed.
Hong Yuan suddenly opened his eyes; by now the piece of incense cake in the burner had long burned out, the burner itself ice-cold; seeing the outside sky already dark, thick darkness enveloping the world, only a few fishing lights flickering on the distant river!
At least over an hour had passed, but blown by the river wind, Hong Yuan took a deep sniff and could still smell a strand of clear, elegant fragrance.
A look of joy also appeared on his face.
It worked!
Although there was no floating text prompt, that was because the minimum improvement for root bone and comprehension was a trace or a wisp.
Whether there was gain, he could feel it himself; meditation method promoted comprehension improvement, and after using this ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles’, it slightly increased that efficiency.
Accumulated over time, it saved time.
Moreover, since incense formulas worked, he could naturally try other methods.
Hong Yuan picked up several more cloud-shaped incense cakes, tossed them into the burner to light; as strands of fragrance spread, he entered meditation method cultivation again.
Two days later.
After using up all the ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles incense’, Hong Yuan finally went ashore.
In fact, these two days he hadn’t just drifted on the river; he had to forage for food too; now abandoning the black-canopied boat, once again penniless except for a knife slung at his waist, he entered the nearby county town.
The destination of Hong Yuan’s journey was naturally to enter Moon Embracing Garden and kill Wei Zhenzhu, both to vent his anger and eliminate a hidden threat.
But there was no rush.
After all, from the information forced out of Scarface, Hero’s Arena at Moon Embracing Garden would last a month; it might have just started now.
Right now was when security was tightest; no need to charge straight in impatiently; he could improve himself a bit more.
Even when people arrived there, he wouldn’t directly assault; better to scout for a few days first then act according to the situation.
Besides, there was no need to rush in to kill; he could totally ambush on the road after the so-called Hero’s Arena ended and all parties dispersed!
Time was quite ample.
Linjiang Prefecture was only two or three hundred li from Hong Yuan’s current position; Moon Embracing Garden was in the eastern suburbs outside Linjiang Prefecture, a huge estate gathering so many noble clans and martial artists; finding it wouldn’t be troublesome.
Hong Yuan was currently in Wushan County.
After entering the city, Hong Yuan first looked for incense shops, but after searching around, he was quite disappointed; none compared to Yun Jian Fang’s ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles’, not even second-rate ones.
Hong Yuan wouldn’t use such impure incense.
Recalling Shopkeeper Yun boasting that ‘Wandering Ten Thousand Miles’ was a rare top-grade incense formula, even rare in the state government, he couldn’t help but agree now.
Failing to find incense, Hong Yuan turned to the major apothecaries.
Tiger Subduing Sect’s martial arts naturally had matching secret medicines; as Yang Erhu’s personal disciple, Hong Yuan had long obtained the secret medicine formulas.
There were three kinds of secret medicines.
Compared to Yangquan County and Qingxu County, Wushan County was relatively rundown, with a much smaller market scale, but because it backed onto a large mountain, there were more various mountain goods and rarities.
Hong Yuan visited several apothecaries and in just half an hour gathered all the medicinal ingredients for ‘Tiger Bone Meridian Opening Ointment’; for another called ‘Iron Lung Breath Nourishing Powder’, most ingredients were available, the remaining small portion could be sourced in the afternoon.
Only a few ingredients in the third ‘Tiger Subduing Strength Wine’ were quite rare, hard to complete.
Strolling to the most prosperous commercial district in the county town, Hong Yuan went up to the busiest restaurant and ordered a table of good alcohol and dishes, slowly eating and drinking.
Since he had to wait for the ingredients, he wasn’t anxious at all.
Restaurants were places where all walks of life gathered; sitting there, Hong Yuan heard a piece of news.
Recently, a ferocious dragon crossing the river had come to Wushan County, with formidable kung fu; in just over half a month, he had defeated the masters of two martial arts schools in Wushan County.
Once famous with this feat, he began gathering many ‘good fellows’ under him, which quickly drew dissatisfaction from local gang forces; two gangs joined forces against him, but he sneaked into one of them at night and took the boss’s head.
This made him even more renowned throughout the county town.
Hmm?
Listening to this news, Hong Yuan’s heart suddenly stirred.
